Table of Contents

Preface • Introduction: Yellow Jasper Lips at the Met • 1. Afternoon in Florence • 2. A Flood and a Chimera • 3. Immersed in the Bargello • 4. A Sense of Place • 5. The Case of the Duccio Madonna • 6. In the Met Café: A Biographical Interlude • 7. Princely Collections • 8. An Artistic Education Sentimentale • 9. Lost in the Louvre • 10. Crowds and the Power of Art: A Transatlantic Conversation • 11. In the Prado • 12. Hieronymus Bosch and the Hell of Looking at Art with Other People • 13. Titian and Velázquez • 14. Las Meninas • 15. Goya: An Excursion • 16. Rubens, Tiepolo, Goya Again • 17. Rotterdam: Museums and their Discontents • 18. Star-Spotting at the Mauritshuis • 19. Where Do You Put It? • 20. Exploring the Jungles of Paris • 21. Hunting Lions at the British Museum • 22. Lunch in the Great Court • 23. Fragments

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An indispensable introduction to how we experience art, how we look at it and how we think about it

About the Author

Martin Gayford is art critic for The Spectator and the author of acclaimed books on Van Gogh, Constable and Michelangelo. He is the author of Man with a Blue Scarf, Rendez-vous with Art and A Bigger Message. He has collaborated with David Hockney on A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney and A History of Pictures, and has co-written a volume of travels and conversations with Philippe de Montebello: Rendez-vous with Art. Philippe de Montebello is the longest-serving director in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's history. His retirement in 2008 was described as the end of an era 'in the cultural life of the city, the state, the nation, and the world'. He is a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and an Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, and has a worldwide influence on cultural policies, often in an advisory capacity. He is now Fiske Kimball Professor at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts and an Honorary Trustee of the Prado Museum.

Reviews

'Once you experience art the way de Montebello does, you will never look at a painting, a sculpture, or even a museum visit the same way' - Michael Levin, Huffington Post

'Imagine taking a stroll round a few of high culture’s most famous sights with the former head of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This is the pleasure that 'Rendez-vous with Art' offers … ' - House & Garden

'A kind of international visual Desert Island Discs … This book of shared enthusiasm is an example for those who try to look intelligently and a touching reminder of the experiences for many that already do' - The Art Newspaper

'Two very agreeable companions who sweep us up on a magic carpet to drop in on great works of art' - Literary Review

'Packed with insight on aesthetic experience, the context of museums, and how display affects how we look at art. A thought-provoking read' - Apollo